"If residents don’t think they’re getting results from reaching out to authorities, this is just going to continue," - resident Ben Ketchum

Harrisburg police and code officials took three guns off the street, busted two alleged drug dealers and cited 65 properties for code violations during the first week of the city’s Neighborhood Safe Zone program rollout.

The program calls for enhanced enforcement in four-block target areas starting with the neighborhood surrounding 19th and Bellevue streets in Harrisburg.

View full sizeHarrisburg Mayor Linda Thompson talks about the results from her neighborhood safe zone project during a press conference.
Joe Hermitt, PennLive.com

Police got “a lot of information” during the first NSZ phase that they expect to lead to even more arrests and help other investigations, Sgt. Terry Wealand said Wednesday afternoon during a press conference at City Hall.

“Some people were happy having us there, other people weren’t,” Wealand said of the reception in the neighborhood.

In other parts of the city, however, some residents looking to engage with police got mixed results.

Ben Ketchum, 29, said he’s reached out twice to police within the past week. While one call yielded a police response within 15 minutes, in neither case did the city seem "interested" in actually talking to him to find out what he might know or have seen, he said.

Ketchum said squad cars appeared within 15 minutes his 911 call just after 7 a.m. Wednesday to report hearing gunshots near 6th and Emerald streets. But no one spoke to him then or has followed up to inquire about a description of a shooter or other observations, he said.

One week earlier, Ketchum heard what he described as about two dozen shots fired just before police descended on his block to respond to a shooting that injured one man.

That was concerning to Ketchum, who himself owns a gun, because the succession last 20 seconds - longer than the brief duration of the shot or two he occasionally hears ring out. It makes him think gunfire was being exchanged, he said.

Ketchum walked to the crime scene, and on his walk home, he noted a discussion among several young men discussing the incident, with one saying he'd been a witness and was friends with the victim. So Ketchum called the department’s non-emergency line in hopes of sharing the information to investigators.

No one has returned his call, he said Wednesday afternoon.

A call back, he said would show police "have received the message, that someone is listening and wants to create a dialogue with the community.”

When asked about residents’ nonemergency calls to police going unreturned, Wealand clarified that the complaint didn't originate within the NSZ. Besides that, neither he nor Mayor Lynda Thompson sought details about the source or content of the information they wanted to convey.

Thompson did say, however, that anyone who’s not getting a response should try her office or police administration.

Within the past few years, the city has lost about 30 police officers,
but expects to have 15 new cops on the street by year's end, Thompson
has said previously.

Ketchum, who has lived six years in the city, had anticipated as much.

“Allocation of resources, scheduling, manpower issues – people aren’t able to follow up on things, even though they should be able to,” he said. “But if residents don’t think they’re getting results from reaching out to authorities, this is just going to continue – because I imagine I’m not the only one.”

The next NSZ phase will start within the next week on Derry Street between
13th and 16th streets in the city’s Allison Hill neighborhood. Crime,
poverty and illegal dumping are most problematic there of anywhere else
in Harrisburg, Thompson said.

After that, however, the city won’t publicize focus areas ahead of time,
in hopes that “the element of surprise” will improve results for law
enforcement, Thompson said.

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